26 Mar 2012

Liverpool goalkeeper Doni has made a grand total of zero appearances for the Reds since signing in the summer, and in a Radio interview this week, the Brazil International revealed his frustration at constantly warming the bench, and hinted that he might not be at Anfield for much longer.

Speaking to Radio ManaMana, Doni conceded that Liverpool have no real chance of making the Champions League this season, and his frustration with playing second-fiddle to Reina was evidence. He said:

"Next year, I don't know where I will be playing. Being on the bench at Liverpool is not great, and the manager [Dalglish] prefers Reina.

Doni's frustration is totally understandable; surely Dalglish could've given him 20 minutes here or there throughout the season? For example, the Brazilian could surely have been brought on during Liverpool's 6-1 FA Cup victory against Brighton?

Reina's form this season has (IMO) been poor, and part of the reason must be that he has no competition. Reina has absolutely no real challenger, so even if plays badly there are no consequences for him. How is that conducive to keeping him motivated to improve?

Despite his frustrations, Doni admits that he's having a 'beautiful' experience in England, but he still pines for his old club Roma, with whom he won two trophies:

"I enjoyed living in Rome. I had a good time, it was a great experience, and I miss that a bit. It always rains here in Liverpool!"

Surprised he even came here. Up until two seasons ago, he was the undisputed no.1 for Roma, who are a good reputable club. I would have thought he would have went to a club where he had a genuine chance of being no.1, instead coming to a club where one of the best keepers in the world plays. If Reina didn't have such a good reputation from previous seasons, Pepe would have been dropped, considering the amount of mistakes he has made this season.

I don't necessarily agree that Reina's form has been poor, but, he had no more competition for his place in the team in 07/08, 08/09, 09/10 & 10/11 than he does now, so, even if his form has dipped, I don't see why it would be down to lack of competition.

best keeper in the world plays,where`s that then,how reina`s no2 for spain,a keeper that is in seriouse bad form,has cost lfc,so many points,wigan 2 shots 2 goals,0 corners, lfc 5 shots 1 goal 6 corners,same at qpr,if doni,dosent get a shout within the next 2 games,kk deserves to be shown the door,he`s no legend,he become a liability,has reina,he`s certainly not bigger than any other player,and should of been dropped well before now

I said one of the best, not the best. Even the best (Casilas and Buffon) have had dodgy seasons. Yes, I agree, Reina should have been dropped but was and is unlikely to happen as he seems to be immune from criticism from the powers to be.

reaina will be leaving in the summer, he wanted to last summer. his commitment is not there and gave up when it was obvious 4th was not going to happen.kenny to scared to drop reina and doni probably thinks i could do better and deserves a chance

Not sure how we can have a reserve keeper who has so much experience but could not get a game in the Carling Cup or against Brighton in the FA Cup. I'd want to leave if I was him, Reina has been average this season and still does not look like ever losing his place.

Absolutely disgusting that Doni has no games despite Reina lethargically moving about, letting goals go in at merely a stretched arm away if not through wide legs open. He has not one bad game but game after game after game. If Reina was Wigan's GK on Sunday, he never would have mirrored Habsi's great saves that day. Why is he above criticism? Someone needs to have a word with Reina about his motives, intentions etc. Come on Dalglish, assert your position and straighten up any egotistical attitudes which prevail. I bet the reserves are desperate to play and represent LFC with PRIDE.

Reina has been poor this season? when is the last time you remember him making a world class save? exactly, over rated and should have been dropped months ago, been saying it for months, he has no motivation like Torres before he left, half hearted displays, get rid, give Doni his chance, and if he doesn't like the rain get rid of him too, happy to take the money these guys.

Besides kenny knows that the only way to keep the owners quite is to win cups like carling etc.... Epl is a distant goal, may take us another decade with the we have progressed in the past few years... So he might hv felt a loss at cups wd terminate his tenure!!!

I wholeheartedly agree with those saying Reina should be dropped and Doni given a chance, what better time is there to do it?

If Kenny doesn't get a grip of these underperforming players and make some drastic albeit perhaps unpopular decisions then i'll have no more reason to defend him, afterall he is the manager, and if he can't see where we have been going wrong this season then sad to say but he will deserve to go as well.....

Reina would probably be relieved to be dropped IMO that would give him the excuse to leave.......that with our lack of progress (which he has contributed to....)

Thanks for nothing this season Pepe but you've shown yourself to be no better than your good buddy Judas......

doesn't bother me too much and doesn't suprise me either that he wants to leave. He was never bought to replace Reina, and should have realised that he was going to be 2nd pick. With the addition of Danny Ward to the reserves squad, we have a young prospect who'll be coming throught the ranks. Finally, goalkeepers are the last of Liverpool's worries. We need to focus on aquiring a player(s) who'll help get the ball in the net and regain our form. YNWA!!!

But to speak of a player who has given 6 previous outstanding years service in such a manner, well its speaks volumes for the kind of 'supporter' you are.

We're talking about a guy who has won 3 golden glove awards, LFC player of the year 21010, has kept a over 150 clean sheets to join the only other two great keepers to acheive this in the clubs history, Clemence and Grobbelaar.

One below par season doesn't deserve the comments been made about the guy. And just how below par has he been ??? Don't let the fact that he has 11 clean sheets this season, only bettered by Hart(13) and Vorm (12) get in the way of trash talking the guy.

At least have the decency to make your point about a great player and servant to our club without indulging in histrionics and trash talking.. and cheapining his great contribution to our club.

I ll say it before and I'll say it again..

Some of you are as shallow as garden ponds and have the memories of the goldfish in them..

Dalglish has been utterly clueless about how to use almost all of the player he has .. why would it be any different with Doni.. I expect more player to ask to leave with with such an incompetent clueless moron running the show...

Well Ive been saying this many times.Reina's commitment is questionable.Give Doni some matches in the remaining matches.Like i said lets take our remaining matches as our pre-matches in the summer because with the Carling Cup we wont have enough time in the summer.Reina as well as Hendersen know whatever their performance King Kenny will still field them so they dont care.Doni should be given some chance

I've never been a Reina fan and would be perfectly happy for him to leave. What makes me laugh most about him is the way everybody says he's so wonderful at saving penalties. Can anybody remember the last time he stopped one in the league? Compared to the great Ray Clemence he's very ordinary. Here in Barcelona they were perfectly happy to let him go.

To be fair to Doni and Jamie, we could have given him 20 minutes in any position on Saturday and it would have likely been an improvement. But yes- 20 minutes in a couple of cup games will neither satisfy Doni or really test his ability or solve the problem of the competition for Reina.Also- can probably apply the competition= quality argument to the rest of the team. It's always so disheartening to read the teamsheet and look at the players on the bench. No dynamism, no apparent motivation no reason to believe they could change the game.

although, i do agree Doni should have had a run during the league cup.

ps- on the topic of rotation, i dont recall Rafa stating his players were tired ?? i bring Rafa up, only because of the abuse he has received from certain corners and maybe now people can start to see the work he did actually achieve !

When is everyone going to get it KK is not the manager we need, we have players wanting to prove themselves and he could not care even when we have players making huge mistakes he does not change anything, he makes changes in the game too late because he either does not see it or is too scared. Gone are the days when you had to prove you should be out there.

golden gloves,150 clean sheets,some keepers earn that,mostly down to a good defence,in reinas case,he`s become an embarassment,every goal that go`s in,they say had no chance,but it does fecking help when you move,say what you want,but it needs saying.

Interesting how you have made a journalistic error in saying that Doni is Italian when he is in fact Brazilian, hence the commenting on Brazilian radio. Please get your facts right before posting an article

I thought I was the only one that thinks that Reina is overated. He doesnt make any saves, he is rarely a man of th match. He stands rooted to the spot with his knees bent while the ball goes into the net. he uses his body to block shots. He never dives at at e oppositions feet. He cant judge crosses and he cant catch the ball. He always parries the ball and gets it at the second attempt. We should have taken Arsenals 30 mil

Seriously, have any of you ever been to a game? I get the distinct feeling not. Reina is class, he's made enough good saves to keep us in games. Out of all the goals we've conceded he may be responsible for 2 or 3 tops. He commands his area brilliantly and is more often than not in the right places. The best keepers aren't always the ones pulling off the best saves, its the ones who make it look easy and he generally does that. I sit on the Kop game in game out and I don't know one person around who'd say to drop/ sell Pepe. Why should Doni play? He was bought as back up and has performed that role, he know what he was getting himself into.

Yes there are certain issues with the manager, but this article in particular is about the goalkeeper, or more to the point the man who is supposed to save the goals. Even if we had the greatest manager in the world but the goalkeeper doesn't move to save the ball, we will still lose and will have to play extra harder to draw.

Yawn, another Reina blind supporter who is probably talking about seasons bygone. We don't need a commander , we already have a captain, we don't need a fecking distributor, any goalkeeper who can aim the ball at a red shirt is sufficient like it was in 2005. Why should Doni play? Hmm, maybe because he might try and save a goal?

Reina's commitment is questionable ??? What kind of commitment are we talking about ? The kind of commitment that had Stevie G's bags packed for Chelsea before Istanbul !! Or the kind of commitment that hasn't see him not miss a league game over 4 years ??

Of course with the club in turmoil with the previous owners Reina was looking for certain answers to before he further commited to the club .. which he did, at a time when others jumped ship.

Stevie G's commitment is never questioned when he was actually closer to leaving Liverpool than Reina ever was .. So whats your point ????

Ah ya thats it .. sure with a good defence who needs goalkeepers huh.. What tosh !!

The only thing thats an embarrasment is some supporters reaction, or should I say over reaction, to an outstanding player and servant to the club who happens to be having his first dip in form in 6 years !!

Reina deserves to be dropped on his recent form, i mean, he does'nt command his six yard box, just stands on the line flapping his arms. Doni has every right to feel aggrieved that he's had no chance. Get the F.A. cup out of the way, send Reina on holiday, put Doni and Coates in for Reina and carra, give Maxi (probably the only midfielder that gets in the box) and blood a couple of youngsters 'till the end of season. ( lets face it, we're not going anywhere in the leaue again anyway). Drop Kenny too, get in a top european manager.

No one said Reina is above criticism.. I as one of the people backing him freely admit he has been poor this season, but only in relation to 6 previous outstanding seasons... He still remains a member of a defence that has one of the best defensive records in the PL, and is in with a shout for golden glove again.. so how poor has he really been.

And before you wade in with the argument that its down to Skirts, Agger & co.. that may very well be true but how many season did he boost some of these guys stats with outstanding displays between the sticks. There in it together as a defensive unit.

Things have got so desperate among certain sections of our supporters that they seem to be turning on anybody in an effort to lay blame for this seasons debacle.

Has Reina been poor .. Yes .. But it really is SAD to see people turning on a great servant of our club just to vent some anger at somebody ..

Yes, you're right. Why are supporters expecting Reina to SAVE goals? I mean his previous 5 seasons will stop goals going in the net instead! Not. Tell me here right now, when is the last save Reina made worthy of noting?

Thing is, for everyone saying that Reina deserves his place in the team for as long as he wants it, it is this type of team selection that demotivates players and makes people realise their future is elsewhere, not just the reserve keeper.

Well without wanting to sound petty.. but you don't save goals you save shots .. a goal is a goal.

If you had read my other posts, you would have read that I said I don't believe Reina is above criticism and I freely admit he is having a poor season

You seem to be about 12 years of age with your mentality.. and obvious memory span. Because were you able to remember the last 6 years you would remember 6 years of outstanding service and world class goalkeeping.

But hey, you and all the other goldfish fantasy football managers are right.. why let that be a factor in giving the guy the benifit of doubt and a bit of support during his first ever dip in form.. Drop him, sell him, bla bla bla..

I seriously can't believe how quiclky people have turned on him .. KOP the fcuk on.

with all the goals that we have let in this season, reina needs to be challenged. at least have him sit out some games or sub him to give others a chance...might actually work out for the better..look at what other teams are doing with their keepers....ie man u, barca, arsenal....the keepers have been benched at some point during the season...this is not necesarily a bad think.......would remind reina that he has to stay ontop of his game!!

I look at the replies here and personally I can't blame Doni for considering leaving as he is a good keeper in his own right. I think KK needs to remind players like Renia that no player is above Liverpool Football club and drop him for Doni for a few games. I also believe if Liverpool are to have any chance challenging for the league then not only do we need to rotate players but we need to bring through several youth players per year.

Look at any team from the likes of Manchester utd to Barcelona etc and you will find they are constantly bringing through youth players who make successful move into the first team. Liverpool once did this and they brought some great players through with the likes of:

As things stand I don't see Liverpool breaking the top four as a major rebuilding process is required and part of this youth players who show promise need to go from the youth team to the reserve team and then into the first squad . Currently Liverpool have some good prospects in:

I fully believe that Liverpool need to adopt the the above policy but they also need to start using one of the domestic cups to bring through these younger players. I also would like alot more work put into finding propescts and see them coming to the club as that is the only way Liverpool can in the long term challenge the other big clubs.